I
am not a fan of getting stuck in traffic. Specifically, the
bumper-to-bumper type that has you inching forward at a rate slower than
any sloth I’ve seen on a YouTube video. One time when I was caught in
that type of traffic when this car pulled in front of me. Foolish person
thought that the lane I was in was moving faster than the one that they
came from. When I stopped swearing under my breath, I realized I was
experiencing one of those “blessing in disguise” kind of moments. Their
licence plate read: Be Calm (but a different spelling). I hope you’ll
believe me when I say I was actually calmer for the rest of the
hour-longer-than-it-needed-to-
be trip home.

 

Every time I’d squirm
in the seat or try to look for an escape from the long line-up of red
lights ahead of me I’d come back to that licence plate. I’d see “be
calm” and my mind would go through a series of thoughts like:
• I can’t do anything about the decision I made to leave when I did;
• I can’t make these other cars go any faster;
• I can put on some fun music; and,
• I can think about how fortunate I am to have a car to drive, and a full tank of gas at this very moment.

 

COVID-19
is our worldwide traffic jam. There is no way of avoiding what is
happening or worrying about how long it will last and the subsequent
ramifications to life as we once knew it. It should not be ignored.
However, giving it more attention than it deserves is messing with our
mental and physical health. I do look at social media (more times a day
than I care to admit) and I’m noticing a bit of a shift to discussions
around the “what ifs” in this situation. People are expressing their
concerns. They have every right to, but we have the right not to read or
listen to their posts. If we focus on the problem all that we will see
is the problem. If we step back, we get more perspective.

 

Finding
calm moments in this storm isn’t that hard. Sometimes it does take some
creativity. Easy choices are limiting time on social media, watching the
news or having discussions that are COVID-19 focused. One of my clients
was told by her husband that he would only listen to her coronavirus
concerns for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening. I
love this idea.
The other way to find calm is to put yourself in
situations that ground you. Meditation is an obvious one but it’s not
great if you have a brain that works a mile-a-minute. If this is you,
this really is not the time to give meditating a try.

 

There are other
things that can work like:
• Put on your favourite music and sing or dance or dance and sing.
•
Get outside and take a deep breath of fresh air. If there is a tree
nearby, put your hand on it and pay attention to what you’re feeling. If
you want to go all out, hug the tree. I swear there is nothing more
grounding.
• If you’re wearing socks or shoes right now kick them
off. Wiggle your toes. Walk on surfaces you don’t normally walk on and
feel every sensation you can. Or, put some water in the bathtub and
stand in it. Make it really cold if you need a jolt of reality.
• Light a candle and stare at the flame. Watch it dance and flicker. Let yourself get lost in its energy.

 

All
of these ideas put us right in the “now.” There is no other moment than
right now. It’s all that we have and it’s a calm place to be.
Something to think about.